1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cover for a front compartment of a vehicle body and to a front section structure of the vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various vehicle components such as an engine or a battery are provided within a front compartment (occasionally, it is also called as an engine compartment) located in a front section of a vehicle body. An upper opening of the front compartment is covered by a front hood which can be opened and closed.
In a case where an object has hit a front end of the vehicle body while the vehicle is running, the object may run on the front hood and then the front hood may be bent downward. In this case, if a vehicle component having high stiffness is located beneath the front hood, the object may hit onto the vehicle component with interposing the front hood therebetween. Therefore, a structure for reducing an impact force to the object is desired.
In a Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-53269, disclosed is a box covering vehicle components for preventing exposure of the vehicle components to rainwater. In case where an front hood has been bent downward after an impact of an object and then the object hits on the box, the box will be shrunk telescopically or accordion-folded by an impact load in order to increase a bent amount of the front hood. Specifically, the box includes upper and lower casings constructing a structure in which perforated slits are formed around a circumferential side wall of the lower casing. Therefore, the lower casing breaks off at the slits when the impact load has applied to the upper casing and thereby an upper section of the lower casing above the slits moves downward. In addition, a casing main body and the upper case, which are combined with the lower casing, also move downward. As a result, the bent amount of the front hood can be increased.